The 7 Keys to Asking Clients the Right Questions
by Robert Moment
Published on this site: June 13th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month...
The secret to successful communication in business and in everyday
life is asking the right questions. Understanding the value of effective
questioning is probably the single most dominant factor in achieving
business success. The way to learn about what people need is to
ask a question and then listen carefully to the answer.
What do Oprah Winfrey, Larry King, and Barbara Walters all have
in common? They are all great interviewers. They have the uncanny
ability to make people feel comfortable and talk by asking the right
questions. The bottom line is that customer and prospects will gladly
volunteer information about what they think they want in pricing,
products and services if you ask the right questions. The more questions
you ask, the more the customer or prospect will talk, which allows
you to uncover their “hot buttons”. Remember, approximately
90 percent of customers and prospects think about themselves first.
To start, you should always remember the 7 keys to good questioning.
It’s a matter of being clever, and being direct. How better
to accomplish this than to utilize these 7 keys:
- Why? For example: Why would you choose software A over
software B for your small business expenses?
- Who? For example: Who would you recommend this product
to and why?
- Where? For example: Where did you first hear about my
small business?
- When? When were you hoping to have project A completed?
- What? What troubleshooting issues have you discovered
while using this program?
- How? How do you feel about our new shipping policy?
- Is it? Is it alright if I contact you in the future
if I need more information?
You’ve probably already noticed that number 7, “is it”
isn’t one of the standard questions that you consider when
you think of posing questions, but “is it” allows you
to verify what you have learned by listening carefully to the answers
to keys number 1-6. Confirming and verifying what customers are
saying demonstrates to them that you are listening carefully to
what is being said, and reassures them that their input matters.
It also allows you to better absorb and synthesize what is being
stated so that you can put it into its best application.
There is an art to asking the questions. While using the 7 keys
to good questions does get you off to a good start, you have to
remember to keep things well focused, so that the responses that
you receive will be tailored to what you are seeking to discover.
Most people have a natural tendency to pose very general questions.
However, while conducting business, you need to aim to ask questions
that are as detailed as possible, so that you will receive a better
response, and so that the person with whom you are speaking will
know you are a good listener.
Keep in mind, also, that just because a question is detailed, doesn’t
mean that it has to be verbose in any way. Rather, it must simply
be worded in a way so that the right information is provided within
the response.
For example, if someone were to ask you “how do you start
a small business?” that would leave you in a bit of a lurch
with regards to what to say and where to start. Additionally, it
will necessarily lead to a number of other questions that negate
the purpose of asking the original question in the first place:
more detailed questions. Don’t waste the time of the person
to whom you are asking questions, don’t waste your own time,
and keep confusion to a minimum. A better question with which to
begin may have been something more detailed such as: “How do
you start a small mail order business in Richmond, Virginia, that
deals in laptop computers?” Notice the difference?
The foundation to asking good questions and achieving a wealth
of practical answers is to apply the 7 keys in a direct and
detailed manner. They allow you to get to the root of your
question, so that you will gain the information and direction
that you need to take specific action.
HRobert Moment is a successful business and
success strategist and author of “It Only Takes a Moment
to Score”, which is available at Amazon.com and Barnes
and Noble. Robert show entrepreneurs how to avoid becoming
a statistic and turn their ideas into wealth and have FUN
! Grab a copy of his Free Special Report, “17 Profitable
Ways to Turn Your Content into Money”. Visit: http://www.sellintegrity.com
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